David Hayes
(American, 1931-2013)

"Voyager", 2000

painted steel
signed, dated and copyright marked along bottom edge of green element.
h. 74", w. 50", d. 57"

Provenance: Estate of David Hayes, Coventry, Connecticut and Fort Pierce, Florida.

Exhibited: Museum of Art, DeLand, Florida; Vero Beach Museum of Art, Florida; Picker Art Gallery, Colgate University, Hamilton, New York.

Notes: A native of Connecticut, David Hayes received his BA from the University of Notre Dame before enrolling in the Graduate Program at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, where he studied with the abstract expressionist artist David Smith (1906-1965). Inspired by the geometric metal sculptures produced by Smith, Hayes began to create large scale steel sculptures of abstracted organic forms, suggestive of their natural inspiration. His earliest works were constructed of welded steel - a distinctly industrial material; Hayes had trained with a blacksmith in Indiana, and he forged and constructed the steel constructs himself. As his style evolved, Hayes began to turn more frequently to cut steel, which he weathered or painted and frequently textured. With these sculptures, composed of curving, asymmetrical elements, Hayes explored the relationship of form and space, shapes and colors.
One of the most acclaimed contemporary American sculptors, Hayes was the recipient of a Solomon R. Guggenheim Fellowship and a Fulbright Scholarship, the latter which enabled him to study in France where his neighbor was fellow sculptor Alexander Calder (1898-1976). His works are in numerous public and private collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Guggenheim Museum, New York; University of Connecticut, Storrs; Hirschorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Paris; Wadsworth Athenaeum, Hartford; Carnegie Institute, Philadelphia; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas.

References: Byrnes, Richard A., "The Art of Friendship: David V. Hays". Notre Dame Magazine; Autumn 2013; Wiregrass Museum of Art Exhibition Catalogue. Sculpture by David Hays. The Argian Press: New York, 2013; Dunne, Susan, "Coventry Sculptor David Hays Dies". Hartford Courant. April 11, 2013.